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Tag Archives: Lemon chicken

I used to love to make lemon chicken. I find the sweet tangy fruit flavor mixed with chicken to be super delicious. But somewhere along the way, I experimented with one too many different recipe ideas. Maybe it was the longer cooking time resulting in dry meat, or the fact that I should have known there was entirely too much pepper in the recipe; whatever it was, the end result was so unappetizing that I had avoided cooking with lemons almost exclusively. That is, until yesterday.

A Breakthrough:

I had bought a couple bags of lemons from Trader Joe’s to preserve (here’s one way to do it) but I noticed that unfortunately mold was starting to take over a couple in the corner. I quickly threw away the moldy ones, and let the others sit pretty in a dish on my counter. I walked past those lemons all day wondering “how am I going to use them?”. I know that I only need one or two to make the lemon-poppyseed muffins I’m baking for the base bake sale so I needed to use them up. Chicken was on the menu last night but I hadn’t decided how I was going to cook it. None of my usual ways of cooking chicken (usually different combinations or individual use of garlic, cinnamon, sage, various italian seasonings, BBQ. I promise to post some of those recipes here soon, too) sounded good. I looked at the lemons and then back at my frozen chicken breasts… And finally summoned up the courage to try it again!

– Preferably, marinate the chicken in this mixture for at least 20 minutes.

– After preparing the chicken, put at least another 1 T of olive oil along with the butter in a pan over very low heat. Cut the rind so the the remaining flesh is pan-side down. Let sauté while waiting for the chicken to be done marinating. The rind will need to be flipped occasionally and moved around. It will also look like it’s blackening a bit; that’s okay because it’s just the sugar caramelizing and will make your chicken taste amazing.

– Turn up the heat to medium. Place chicken and marinade in the pan. Sprinkle italian herbs across the chicken. Depending on the thickness of the cuts, cook thoroughly until chicken has an interior temperature of 165° and is no longer pink in the middle. While cooking, be sure to flip the chicken and also to spoon the juice (which will thicken a bit) over the chicken periodically.

– Serves 2-4 people, depending on what you serve with it.

Side-dish Ideas:

I paired the chicken with a mix of sautéed garlic veggies: sugar snap peas, pepper strips, and peas. This combination compliments the dish by balancing the meal. Rice could be served in addition, if wanted.

Comments:

– This dish is wonderful for summer! It’s on the lighter side and very refreshing. Plus, it would be easy enough to scale the recipe to feed a group of people. It’s a great alternative to barbecuing.

– It’s a budget-friendly dish. Especially if you buy a a large amount of chicken breast at a time, like I do. Buying in bulk saves you money (not to mention if it goes on sale) and guarantees you always have enough on hand, no matter who decides to show up! I buy a big package of 6-8 huge chicken breast and cut them in halves or thirds to get a single portion. I then freeze two servings in small freezer bags and defrost as necessary. I highly recommend it.